Conspiracy Theories In New Age Cults - Derek Beres - #451

**Chris Williamson** (0:00)
Hello, friends, welcome back to the show. My guest today is Derek Beres. He's an author and media expert, the senior editor at Eco, and co-host of the Conspirituality podcast. Far left yoga moms and far right trolls aren't the most obvious pairing that you would have put together. However, these unlikely ideological allies have more in common than you might think. Much of the thinking within these groups has converged in recent years, and Derek is here to explain how this has happened. Expect to learn how the term Conspiracy has been diluted down to mean all manner of things now, the typical characteristics of a cult leader, why conspiracy theories are so seductive to the people tempted by them, how spirituality adds a different flavour to conspiratorial tropes, whether I need to stop saying hello cult members, and much more. The world of Conspirituality is one that I kind of had an idea about, right? You've watched yoga documentaries on Netflix about these crazy ashrams and stuff. But I didn't realize just how pervasive it was, the fact that QAnon kind of co-opted itself into the wellness and New Age movement. It's very interesting. The work that Derek does is taking a different perspective on a corner of the internet that I literally wasn't even aware existed. So yes, I hope that you enjoy this one. In other news, this episode is brought to you by Praxis Careers. They are helping ambitious and entrepreneurial young people launch their career without college. Praxis Apprenticeship Program helps you to break out of the classroom and into an awesome career with a fast growing business without student debt. You get your long apprenticeship program that combines a skills bootcamp plus a full-time paid job at a growing business, six months of professional development to build hard and soft skills. Then you land a job at a growing business in sales, marketing or operations. 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